Bowling Alley Lanes for Workbench Top?

[Marty Tippin]

Found some old sections of bowling alley lane being sold for cheap, wonder whether they would be useful for a workbench top? 2-1/4" thick hard maple.

Any gotchas to look out for?

[Ellen Benkin]

I would think that if they can hold up to people dropping bowling balls they should be good for a workbench. After some planing, of course.

[Mel Fulks]

This came up once before but we got a report that they had a surprising number of nails.

[Richard Coers]

Very poor bench top. The strips are not glued together, and like Mel said just nailed. LOTS of nails! Trimming to length can be a disaster.

[johnny means]

I've seen them usd with good results. The ones I've seen were bolted together with threaded rods. Tightening the nuts kept the joints tight. This made them pretty much uncutable. They had to be used full width.

[Jim Matthews]

My first benchtop was made with a reclaimed bowling alley lane.

Every third bench dog hole hit some metal fixture, and it sagged terribly in less than two years.
If you add a row of dog holes after the fact, and provide sufficient support underneath (cross battens) it should do.

I would echo the concern that the pieces are floating tongue and groove joints.
If you can wedge the top to your base, such that the wedges can be driven tighter, it could work.

Having used this sort of material myself, I would not choose to do so again.

[Mark Draper]

I had a piece of one given to me, the guy bought them thinking that they were all maple. Turns out they were only maple on the ends in the impact zones. The center section was southern yellow pine, and yes it was riddled with nails. I ended up using it as a roof on a doghouse.

[Chris Friesen]

I bought two 7-foot sections for cheap, pried all the laminations apart (lots of 3" spiral nails, had to wear earplugs because of the squealing nails,) planed the strips smooth, and glued up a 7-foot 24"-wide benchtop. Probably more work than it was worth in the end...

[Ellen Benkin]

But you got a great story to go with your workbench!

[Bill White]

I'm sitting at my bowling alley workbench as I post.
It was free, has been as solid as I expected, has the nail issue for sure, but it has been an excellent bench for almost 18 years.
Mine is maple thru and thru.
Bill

[Marty Tippin]

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like the general consensus is that I'd be in for at least a lot of work, maybe a damaged sawblade or two and possibly somethings that's not as stable as I'd like. Think I'll pass on the bowling alley lanes for now!

[Art Mann]

I helped a friend adapt a piece of bowling alley lane as a workbench top and I can tell you with absolute certainty that you will destroy saw blades in the process of cutting it to length and width. They use ring shank or spiral nails about every 6" or so to hold the planks together and you can't avoid them. On the other hand, the bench turned out well and it was worth it to him to wreck a few cheap blades to get what he wanted.

[Rick Moyer]

get two and keep one for a SPARE. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist)

[Gary Thinglum]

I've had bowling alley tops for bench tops for almost forty years. The first few sections of a bowling alley are maple and the rest are a southern pine. When I got them I could have had about five complete alleys. I chose the southern pine because of them being lighter. They have been great. Like it was stated in another thread it may pose a problem if you are going put dogs in. What I found when cutting them is to try and spread each board and see where the nails are. I spread them, then marked where to cut them. Then, I used a pipe clamp to pull them back together and made the cut. Did not hit a single nail. I made a bench in the center of the shop which is full width of the alley. I think it is 42" wide. A great bench to work on. Made another one in front of my tool board. This one I made about 32". Makes it easier to lean over to grab a tool. I currently have three of them in my shop. I have reinforced the bases of them. None of them have ever warped, or bowed. You have to remember when you use them for bench tops they are very heavy and you must build a strong base cabinet. When we moved them we had six men to carry them. We stood them on end, and used three burlap bags to lift and carry them.

[Keith Hankins]

be careful you might strike out. (snicker)